MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday pulled up controversial YouTuber Vikas Pathak alias Hindustani Bhau for instigating students to resort to protests outside the residence of state education minister Varsha Gaikwad after she decided to hold offline exams for classes 10 and 12. The HC has, however, asked the Special Executive Magistrate not to pass any final order in its 'chapter proceedings' under the 'preventive action' initiated against Pathak.
A bench of Justices Prasanna Varale and Shriram Modak was hearing a plea filed by Pathak challenging the notice issued against him by the Magistrate, by which he has been asked to appear before the court and explain why preventive action shouldn't be initiated against him. If the Magistrate is satisfied by Pathak's response it will dispose of the notice but if not then the court might ask him to file a bond, which would basically be a kind of an undertaking stating that he wouldn't commit any offense that can harm public tranquility in the future.
On Monday, Pathak's counsel Aniket Nikam apprised the bench of the facts of the case and urged it to grant an interim relief at least.
Hearing the submissions, Justice Varale said, "Why did you (Pathak) instigate the students. It is wrong to appeal students to protest outside the minister's house."
"You have asked students to gather through your social media... These are young students (of classes 10 and 12) who can be easily influenced with help of social media..." the bench added.
Meanwhile, additional public prosecutor Kumar V Saste raised a preliminary objection to the petition on the ground that the proceedings are just at their initial stage and that the Magistrate hasn't asked Pathak to file the bond immediately. "We are just at the stage of a show-cause notice... the apprehension, if any, is unfounded as the present petition is a premature one," Saste added.
Accordingly, the bench adjourned the matter for further hearing with a directive to the special Magistrate not to pass any final order in the proceedings.
Notably, Pathak was booked last month by the Dharavi Police for 'instigating' students to protest the decision of the Maharashtra government to conduct offline exams for classes 10, 12, and other undergraduate classes. It is alleged that the former contestant of the Bigg Boss reality show, had released a video on his social media platforms demanding online exams for all the students. He had threatened to stage protests outside the state education minister Varsha Gaikwad's house if the offline papers weren't canceled.
Pathak's video went viral and on the following day, thousands of students staged protests in the city outside Gaikwad's residence in Dharavi. There were also protests in Aurangabad, Osmanabad, and Nagpur, where students had turned violent and had pelted stones on a school bus.
Following his arrest and subsequent bail, the Special Executive Magistrate, while considering the plea of the Dharavi Police, issued a notice under chapter proceedings to Pathak, asking him to appear before it.
